Millennium Development Goals "MDG's" Progress in Afrika

Development Jamboree in Ghana.

The quest for Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), I believe is the dream of every well meaning African, especially those of the South of the Sahara (Black Africa), indeed an end to Genetically Induced Poverty, Chronic Corruption, an end to preventable Diseases, famine, Starvation, an end to Child and Maternal mortality, an end to gruesome domestic violence against women, active participation of women in decision making , an end to deliberate environmental degradation, an end to a Senseless wars , conflicts, dehumanization and indeed continental and global harmony among nations, in Africa and beyond is indeed a welcome development, which we all yearn for as well meaning people .

 At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, leaders of all United Nations member states (Heads of States) agreed on a set of eight (8) goals with a target year date of 2015 to guide global development in the 21st century. What have become known as the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, include: halving extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education and gender equity, reducing under-five mortality and maternal mortality by two-thirds and three-quarters respectively, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and ensuring environmental sustainability.

Unfortunately, after this humble declaration, Africa has resort to achieve the MDGs, through series of Conferencing, Workshops, Talk-shop Chop-shops etc, indeed so far Africa, has the best of Theoretical Action Plans on beautiful papers, geared towards achieving the MDGs, however lacks the Practical Actions Plan (Field World). In other wards I believe that very few African countries are attempting to do better than majority of their peers, not even to talk of the Maghreb, in the North of Africa, they are quiet better off with their Oil wealth. It is indeed frustrating to the extent that in Addis Ababa, 3 April 2007: A Sudanese economist participating in the Economic Commission for Africa's Conference of Ministers, Dr. Wani Tombe Lako , said in Addis Ababa on Friday that at the current pace, it was unrealistic for African countries to imagine that they could achieve the MDGs, "even in 100 years".

Initially I thought he was pessimistic but considering the current trend in government, civil society and the so-called youth front, I am convince to agree charitably with him, In an interview with the Information and Communication Service of ECA, Dr. Lako said that poverty and hunger in Africa might double by 2015 and that until "we change people's thinking; the thinking of ministers and decision makers, nothing will progress". He said most African countries had not made progress in gender equality and women's empowerment, and that Africans were still living "in an ocean of poverty" "Social transformation and attitudinal change take a long time," said Dr. Lako, adding that it took Europe over 1000 years to influence European thinking and to be where they are now".

He called for a redefinition of Africa's indicators of growth. "We should be modest and define our growth based on what happens to human person in Africa and to human development index like primary education, child mortality. Conversion to money should be secondary," he said. He said while conferences were good for budgets, employing more staff and increasing income, they were not good for human development. He called on African countries to put more premiums on identifying the causes of rural poverty rather than talking about Growth Domestic Product (GDP).

‘We talk of water and sanitation problem in our continent while we only use four per cent of our water due to inappropriate allocation of contracts to dubious firms, corruption and selfishness," he said Our bane as Africans is from the top leadership and down to the citizenry,

I have always insisted that is attitudinal, and not until we change our attitude we can never change what we are doing, Ghanaians have talked so much on the MDGs, organizing colorful meetings, seminars, and talk-shows, without placing much emphasis on the Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSPs) which is the practical framework geared towards achieving the so-called MDGs.

 I think that there must be political will from the political leaders of our land with practical and technical approach to development with greater attention to the grass-roots, and also a serious commitment from youth groups, NGOs, and the CSOs, the earlier we collectively start doing something in our humble corners the better, we are all guilty and to be blamed should we failed to achieve the MDGs which in all honesty without any prejudice whatsoever, am quiet pessimistic of.

One of the solutions is to do away with the series of unnecessary conferencing in the name of MDGs, though I agree that we need brainstorm so as to arrive at a consensus, build a road map towards development, but then the talking has been long overdue.

 Personally, I have vow to attend any so-called workshop or conference on MDGs, because my conscience does not allow me to engage in this unrealistic developments, we seems to be deceiving ourselves here, and we are also contributing in looting the limited state resources by attending this charade. At these meeting we talk big, eat and drink big, receive big applause's for making sugared inputs.

I believe that the funds wasted on Accommodation, Feeding, Transport reimbursement for both Resource persons and Participants during these meetings can be used to buy School uniforms, Bags, Pair of shoes, for thousand of destitute children in the deprived rural communities in an effort to creating an enabling environment/conditions for them to enroll in school, since capital grant seems to be working now, all around Africa, when this is done I believe would partly go along way to achieve Goal 2 of the MDGs, this is practical and workable, and is quiet easy to be done, also why can’t we buy farming tools and equipment's for our poor farmers in the villages, to boost their harvest, to partly achieve goal 1,this action when continued would make a headway in our efforts to achieve the MDGs, which I can consider to be a dream.

Am not being simplistic on this assumptions in anyway, but then I see reality in doing so. After all these meetings, it ends there, the only thing that comes up is developing of Memorandum, and Communiqués, 100s of which is lying on the shelves, of various the Ministries ,Agencies and Department (MDAs) gathering dust, the Briton Woods Institutions (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s) must seize funding project in Africa which has no practical developmental impact to the people.

This is really a test of time to African government and citizens to prove their lots, nobody would come and do it for us, for once we should also do our own thing and be proud of it, we are all involved, President, Emperor, Carpenter ,Mason, Architect, Farmer, House wives, Youth, Women ,Children, Physically challenged , all and sundry must contribute in their small good way for the betterment of Africa. We have exhausted the paper work a lot; let’s start the practical action now.

Posterity would never pardon us should we fail in this cause of renaissance, and we would be highly indebted to coming generations.

Youth Rights and Participation

Youth Participation in Civic Engagements.

Young people can be a powerful force for change as future reformers; young people (15-35) have innovative ideas on how to solve the political, economic, and social problems facing their countries. However, they often lack the voice to bring these ideas to policymakers. Simply, young people are often regarded as recipients of reforms, not active participants in the reform process. I would like to place emphasis on some key areas where young people must be given the equal opportunity to be active in these developmental areas and processes.

First of all, Citizenship and positive values in a Democratic Society, What needs to be done to develop a sense of citizenship in young people and help them realize their role in a democratic society,True reform occurs only when citizens actively participate in the governance process, it can’t be achieved by street protests alone. Young people are an integral part of society and their input and participation in their countries governance is necessary to effect political and economic reform.

However, many lack the skills and opportunity to communicate with policymakers and get involved in their country’s development. Youth are often disengaged from the political process and rarely develop the sense of citizenship that is so crucial to building an inclusive, participatory democracy.

To become active citizens in their countries, young people must be bequeathing with the requisite skills to develop their ideas on reform and outlets to express those ideas in a constructive manner.Again, Educational Reform and Employment Opportunities,In many African countries , the youth unemployment rate is very high. In some countries, this is caused by a lack of jobs; Ghana is not exclusive in this situation, though some progress has been chalked in youth employment programmes.

However, in many others, young people entering the workforce are not prepared for the jobs available they lack the necessary skills and education. Unable to find good jobs, they face a difficult choice, remain unemployed or accept low-paying jobs with no opportunity for advancement. Improving the educational systems of many countries is a key step towards creating a generation of young people who possess the skills and knowledge to participate in the economy, locally and globally.

Finally, Entrepreneurship and Leadership,Young people can play a positive role in the political and economic spheres in their countries, on both local and national levels, in Ghana for instance there are many promising young people who at the helm of affairs in major political parties and other organizational settings, some even have gone far in the process of traditional governance, being custodians of their communities, crown as chiefs and queen mother’s etc.

Unfortunately however some also often lack access to the resources and groups that would help them get involved and have an impact. Therefore, when provided with the opportunity and skills to become influential members of their communities, youth can accomplish their goals.

Guided by the vision, hopes and aspirations of the African Union, the African youth charter is inclusive of Africa’s integration, the inherent dignity and inalienable rights afforded to members of the human family as set out in the United Nations Universal Declaration of human rights.

The charter recognizes that youths are partners, assets and a prerequisite for sustainable development, and that they are of strategic importance for the peace and prosperity of the African continent, with a unique contribution to make for present and future development, this is indeed laudable.

Furthermore, I will want to dwell much on youth unemployment as it has become very obvious that unemployment is the major constraint and worry of many young people in Africa and of course my beloved country Ghana, unemployment is still very high, In Ghana, the Government has taken a sect oral approach to the problem, a National Youth Employment Program is ongoing that aims to actively engage youth in productive employment where they are needed as health extension workers, waste and sanitation workers, teachers, and as paid interns in industry.

Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in the 1999 GLSS the proportion of the economically active population who are not working but are available for work (GSS, 2000).

Insufficient data on youth unemployment in Ghana Official statistics show unemployment rate of less than 10% (5.4% in 2003) Official statistics show underemployment is relatively high (13.6%).Majority of the unemployed population fall in the 15-29 age brackets. High unemployment among the youth is an indication of the under-utilization of human capital resources in Ghana.

Unemployment is an indication of the excess supply of labor over demand The agricultural sector remains unattractive to the youth, even though our economy is structurally agrarian; the sector employs nearly half of all employed persons Skills mismatches, The Education system continues to produce graduates whose training and aspirations do not match the requirements of modern industry.

Attempts to promote the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to absorb labor have not yielded the desired results due to several factors, including high interest rate, weak and unreliable infrastructure and social amenities. Employers find it difficult to employ young person’s even on temporal basis because of the lack of labor market experience.

The youth find it very difficult to get their first jobs. Many of them get disillusion and stop looking for a job. Youth are the last employed, but first dismissed, sometimes without any tangible reason.
The employ-ability question, some youth are just not employable.

A very important factor contributing to the unemployment among the youth is the high rate of growth of the youth population, resulting in rural urban drift. It is estimated that about 250,000 young women and men enter the job market every year.

The formal sector is able to employ less than 5000 (2%). Thus, close to 98% survive in the informal sector or remain unemployed, this I believe is not far fetched from the situations in other African countries.

In a nutshell, the impact of youth participation on Africa’s economic growth cannot be written off, young people in most African countries, especially in Ghana are actively engaged in civic engagements such as NGOs, civil society, entrepreneur activities among others, on the other hand some young people too fall prey due to hardship and turn to be irresponsible, turn to reckless lifestyles, imitates negative foreign culture, such as ear perching, bleeding, reckless dressing etc, which has an inimical effects on our cultural heritage conservation.

Youth and the future generations, so far contribution of youth to the future of Africa is a very laudable which is worthy of emulation, many young people plays key roles in conflict prevention and resolution, but again much need by young people should they be given the requisite capacity, to compliment government efforts and indeed ease burdens on governments.

Creative potentials of young people in Ghana, are in areas such as in music, hence serves as , exponents of African, cultural heritage conservationists( folklore's, history, ecological endowments), arts such as paintings, sculpture, filming, writing and cultural dancing are also in serious practices by many young people in Africa especially in Ghana, many of who serves as ambassadors of their respective countries on international platforms.

Indeed, the creativity of the African youth cannot be sealed without the mention of sports, which I consider as very important exponents of African pride, as many young Africans have distinguished themselves and brought honor to their countries in sports disciplines such as athletics, football/soccer, and boxing among others. Many youth too are creative in writing poems, novels and African literature, all this in effect preserve our heritage and promotes our potentials to the outside world.

Despite all these successes by few among many, yet still good number of youth in Africa faces specific challenges in the areas of education, employment, migration, entrepreneurship, ICT, health, environmental and sustainable livelihood. To address these issues African governments must prioritize youth policy making or forgo the chance of meeting development goals.

Until recently policymakers rarely included youth in the decision making process or even consulted with them on their concerns. Cultural attitudes have been a major stumbling block to establishing inter-generational dialogue; this however is not just in Africa only but also globally.

Traditionally, wisdom was seen as increasing function of age and subsequently, adult leaders and policymakers took it upon themselves to make decisions on behalf of youth. But such policy-making largely resulted in inappropriate policies that failed to address the requisite needs and aspirations of youth having incidentally proven their ability to take leadership in the area of economic development acting as agents of change; this traditional attitude requires urgent modification.

Summarily, Justifying youth participation: It would appear to the onlooker that the case for including youth in policy-making is compelling. Nonetheless, it has been necessary to argue why economic decision making should be both inclusive and youth focused. For example the UNFPA, s report (The case for investing in young people as part of a national poverty reduction strategy), offers a number of arguments, on which I would also like to elaborate further.

1- Equitable distribution of resources – young people make up a large of the population and the poor, therefore it is prudent they receive their fair share national booty.

2- Achieving the MDGs – five goals explicitly refers to young people in terms of health, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases and developing decent employment opportunities for young people.

3- Economic benefits – by investing in education and health, governments can increase productivity and economic growth in the benefit of the youth and the general population

4 – Youth poverty requires special attention – young people experience particular vulnerabilities that make them prone to suffering from unemployment , thereby causing rural urban drift with those in the rural areas to the city with the aim of securing job, white color, which are non existing, and with those already in the city also maneuver their way outside the country to a foreign country mostly Europe and America for greener pasture, hence causing brain drain with those with specialized skills.

5 - Long term benefits and Sustainability – through investing in young people, it so possible to embark on the demographic transition by lowering population growth and by improving the situation of youth, which can decrease the chance that they will later become involved in criminal activity and civil conflict.

In conclusion, youth participation in major development strategies such as PRSPs, MDGs, NEPAD APRM, among others is a development which must be encouraged by all.

New initiatives now dominates the development agenda on the continent including Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), the quest to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) which seeks to ensure accountability, transparency and promote good governance among African governments. These approaches are a departure from the past with a shift to a focus on pro-poor policies, participatory and consultative processes and ownership by countries.

Though youth often figure prominently on paper, their involvements in any of these initiatives has usually been limited.Young people in Africa have enormous potentials that could be harnessed for promoting economic development on the continent. African governments and international partners, therefore, need to focus policy initiatives and resources on improving the leadership role of African youth.

From the above, it is imperative that the African youth charter be ratified to give a positive backing
To the implementation of youth policies in all African states for the betterment of our continent and the world as a whole.